Hughes. Laughing to Keep from Crying.

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Hughes. Laughing to Keep from Crying.

1,950.00

Hughes, Langston. Laughing to Keep from Crying. NY: Henry Holt, 1952. 1st edition. Rubbing to edges of dust-wrapper, with some creases at heel and staining along lower edge of rear. Moderate tanning to spine. Rubbing to top of front board. Very good. Inscribed and dated (New York, March 30, 1952) on first free end-paper by author to Ruth Brown Price, co-leader of New York’s Twelfth Assembly District in the early 1940’s. Second inscription of same date on reverse of first free end-paper by civil rights activist Grace Nail Johnson featuring a verse quotation of her husband, author and civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson. Third inscription on dedication page from one who seems to have known Hughes: “…the younger poets/ that I knew as/ fledglings” with an undeciphered signature.